Tufts Medical Center and Vanguard Health Systems plan to build a new cardiovascular program with locations in Worcester, Framingham and Natick. Doctors, nurses and other clinicians from Tufts Medical Center, MetroWest Medical Center and Saint Vincent Hospital will join forces to coordinate cardiovascular care in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

The goal is to both reduce costs and improve health outcomes. It is widely understood that cardiac patients are among the most likely to end up back in the hospital following release after surgery. So, significant opportunity exists to increase quality and lower costs among his population.

“Cardiovascular disease can be among the most debilitating illnesses patients experience, and the cost of treating and managing these illnesses places enormous stress on the U.S. health care system,” Dr. Octavio Diaz, Chief Medical Officer for Vanguard New England, said in a statement. “Vanguard’s Massachusetts hospitals and Tufts Medical Center are well known for delivering the highest quality care in a responsible manner, and this partnership will enable us all to share more information about how best to deliver care to patients with - complex diagnoses.”

The new joint program will also offer an educational component, for doctors at the two community hospitals to receive cutting-edge training cardiac training at Tufts Medical. When patients require certain forms of advanced care, such as heart transplants, Saint Vincent and MetroWest Medical Centers will send these patients to Tufts Medical, helping the Boston hospital to shore up some of this market share west of Boston. Tufts Medical says it has performed the largest number of heart transplants of any hospital in New England over the past five years.

Tufts Medical CEO Eric Beyer hinted at the program launch in an interview last month with the Boston Business Journal in which he said to expect new deals with Vanguard focused on certain disease areas. Tufts Medical and Vanguard entered into a partnership to develop a new health system last September, but there has been relatively little activity to date. Vanguard has agreed to be acquired by Tenet Healthcare Corp. for $4.3 billion, which is likely to fuel new deal-making by Vanguard.